Points of Contexturetag:typepad.com,2003:weblog-6221692015-07-15T09:00:00-07:00A conversation on seeing holistically in a complex world, sensing the whole as well as the parts: from Richard MarrsTypePadInnovation Ecosystems: A new way of seeing (Part 2)tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8352f2b1f69e201b8d134caeb970c2015-07-15T09:00:00-07:002015-07-08T12:22:17-07:00In our previous blog post, Innovation Ecosystems:A new way of seeing (Part 1), we outlined a new way of seeing innovation and organizing to allow innovation space to grow and blossom. This week, we’re diving in and seeing what it all means to you, your business, your industry, and your future as an innovative organization in an innovation ecosystem. As we considered the idea of the innovation ecosystem, we recognized four main areas of implications for our clients and for you and your organization... A high level overview of the more significant implications would include: How You Approach Innovation You...Richard Marrs

In our previous blog post, Innovation Ecosystems:A new way of seeing (Part 1),we outlined a new way of seeing innovation and organizing to allow innovation space to grow and blossom.

This week, we’re diving in and seeing what it all means to you, your business, your industry, and your future as an innovative organization in an innovation ecosystem.

As we considered the idea of the innovation ecosystem, we recognized four main areas of implications for our clients and for you and your organization...

A high level overview of the more significant implications would include:

How You Approach Innovation

You must understand what innovation ecosystems you belong to (that’s right, you can be in more than one) and what role you are playing in each at any given time.

You must not think or act as if innovation is restricted or held isolated inside your organization; you must understand that innovation is happening all across your ecosystem, within the actors in the system, at the interstices/boundaries of the actors, and with varying degrees of impact across the system. As customers innovate, those changes flow back to you or skip directly to suppliers, some of which you might not even know. As suppliers innovate they can flow to you, or directly to your customers, or create new customers for the innovation you may not be aware of. As universities, research groups, government agencies innovate, those innovations can impact anywhere in the ecosystem.This is a non-linear flow of impacts across the ecosystem, and there will be varying degrees of uptake and level of impact depending on the innovation and what role any actor is playing at any given time within the ecosystem. And it may not be clear just what the results are or will be.

Since the ecosystem must be considered as a whole, you cannot just look one or two steps up or back as you would in a value chain, or first levels of a cluster, etc. You must be able to sense across and within the whole ecosystem, and you must do it actively, not as a passive “listener”. You must actively pursue learning about what is happening inside the ecosystem, which innovations can impact your ideas and innovations, which ecosystem innovations can be threats or opportunities, and how your innovations will play inside the ecosystem.

You have to decide if you will act as a Steward of the ecosystem(s), helping the system to remain stable for success and helping to regulate change.

This a much more intricate process of sensing and learning and acting but remember, an innovation ecosystem is not simple or even complicated: it is a complex system, and requires a different orientation than linear systems.

The Design of Your Innovation Program

Firstly, successful innovation programs inside the ecosystem are designed to take advantage of the innovations occurring across the system. An organization’s innovations, whether for the marketplace or internal process improvements, are informed by, sometimes guided by, and take advantage of or supplement other innovations occurring within the system. A “not invented here” attitude, a practice of isolationism or refusing to see the ecosystem for what it is, is the kiss of death in the ecosystem.

However, this does not mean that innovations within the system are always initially connected to other innovations or ideas within the ecosystem. Indeed, many innovations can be new to the ecosystem with no ecosystem precursors, or come from outside the ecosystem. These innovations can arguably have the most impacts across the ecosystem and can be game changers, system disruptors or system expanders.

So secondly, an organization should expand its sensing and learning - by design - beyond what it considers its “primary” ecosystem, and look into other ecosystems, e.g., a manufacturing company looking at what is happening in the telecom sector ecosystem.

How You Manage the Innovation Process

Remember the rule about isolationism? The organization must actively allow for the sharing and development of ideas and innovation across the ecosystem. Identify those individuals in the organization that touch other actors in the system, and charge them with actively pursuing relationships and idea sharing across those boundaries - which are fluid and should be considered permeable and not as barriers.

Know when the time is right to invite other actors in the ecosystem “inside” to help develop ideas, prototype, and launch and implement innovations.

Understand the pros and cons of closely held intellectual property. Many times good ideas and innovations languish because an individual or organization can’t see their way to inviting others in, and thereby miss the very resources and enablers they need for success – we have seen this time and again. Remember that an idea is only valuable when it becomes something real and begins to create value for the system.

Where Ideas and Innovation Come From

This is where the “not invented here” syndrome can cause an organization to start the death spiral to failure or irrelevancy. Within the innovation ecosystem, it’s not justwhat ideas you can come up to within the organization, but more importantly the ideas that feed and grow and are seeded and influenced across the system. As Steven Johnson notes in Where Good Ideas Come From, “Eureka!” moments do happen; when a number of seemingly unrelated ideas, from many different sources, suddenly coalesce in a group or in an individual’s mind, when many ideas held in the minds within the ecosystem suddenly are triggered and coalesce into something new, something unique, something greater than the sum of the parts.

Innovation does not come out of nowhere - it is the act of combining and recombining, compounding, transposing, augmenting/diminishing ideas into a concept that can be refined, adopted and used by the ecosystem, or create a new ecosystem around the concept (e.g., a new technology or systems solution)

Recognizing the distinctions of seeing your organization within an innovation ecosystem(s), and designing them into your approach to innovation, the design, management and source of ideas for your innovation program and process is the first step to a more successful and innovative organization.

Innovation Ecosystems: A new way of seeing (Part 1)tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8352f2b1f69e201b7c7ab5ad8970b2015-07-08T12:18:47-07:002015-07-08T12:11:30-07:00As Victor Hwang wrote in a Forbes article last April (2014), “…in actuality there aren’t many new business ideas. Most of the time we just slap new labels on old things.” So we when we hear or read about an actual new idea, it’s time for us to sit up, take notice and think about what makes it a new idea and the implications and applications of the idea. The new idea is the term from the natural world “ecosystem”, as applied to the term “business ecosystem, and more importantly for our consideration, the “Innovation Ecosystem”. Hwang notes that the...Richard Marrs

As Victor Hwang wrote in a Forbes articlelast April (2014), “…in actuality there aren’t many new business ideas. Most of the time we just slap new labels on old things.”

So we when we hear or read about an actual new idea, it’s time for us to sit up, take notice and think about what makes it a new idea and the implications and applications of the idea. The new idea is the term from the natural world “ecosystem”, as applied to the term “business ecosystem, and more importantly for our consideration, the “Innovation Ecosystem”.

Hwang notes that the term seemingly “spikes out of nowhere” when looked at using Google’s NGRAM viewer and phrase search trendsaround 2007 (the actual charts are in Hwang's article). Interestingly, the phrase “innovation ecosystem” began trending in Google searches in late 2010 and continues today.

When we considered the concept, read more about it, and talked about with our partners and clients, the application of the natural world concept of an ecosystem applied to innovation has some very real questions and implications for organizations in

How they approach innovation,

The design of their innovation programs,

How they manage their innovation process, and

Where their innovation ideas come from.

Seeing and thinking about innovation in the context of an innovation ecosystem pushes us past the ideas of “clusters”, “networks”, “value chains” and even “organizations” as these are all man made constructs in their basic form. Networks, clusters and organizations might be complicated but they aren’t especially complex.[i]

It’s usually pretty clear about how they interact, where and how the primary avenues of information and value flow are defined, and how activities in one part will affect other parts.

An ecosystem however is a nonlinear complex adaptive system, and is therefore not the sum of its parts. It constantly adapts to changes in the environment - often in unexpected ways - since in complex systems the same actions within the system do not always produce the same results. Within the system there are dynamic networks of interconnections, and creation, destruction, survival and evolution. The ecosystem can only be considered as a whole and not piecemeal since every part of the system depends on and has a functional effect on the others. The system is relatively stable, and change within the system is regulated to maintain equilibrium. An ecosystem is a complex set of relationships among the living resources and the physical environment.

An individual, group or organization is the centre within the construct of a social network or cluster. When we consider a Value Network for example, or a social network, each member can see and act as if it is the central organizing node. The contrast of an ecosystem’s characteristics with those of clusters and networks is pretty clear.

Expanding the analogy of the ecosystem to the concept of the innovation ecosystem crates a new way of both seeing and thinking of innovation. In the Innovation Ecosystem:

Innovation is the organizing center of the ecosystem, the primary goal and driving force, and is the desired outcome

The innovation ecosystem can exist within and around any number of environments, including an industry sector or subsector, an innovation or technology area, an area of research & development, a state, province or country – any of which can serve as an ecosystem environment.

There is a convergence of multiple components, acting as any ecosystem would, experiencing:

Creation,

Destruction,

Survival and

Evolution, where

Membership is fluid and connections are liquid, and are dynamically changing

Economic, material and human resources, value added, knowledge and money flow as they are pulled and pushed within and throughout the ecosystem as needed or demanded

There are Stewards that maintain stability and regulate change

Commercial economies and knowledge economies exist concurrently

Consider this Venn diagram – purposely simplistic - as a way of envisioning an innovation ecosystem, and think of how it compares when you envision a network:

Regardless of where you are in the innovation ecosystem, you and all other actors in the system could be a customer, a supplier, or resource (or any combination of the three) at any point in time. All components touch one another, innovation occurs at the boundaries of those touchpoints in a continuous cycle, membership is fluid, and connections are liquid.

One thought about networks within an innovation ecosystem – Man made networks can and do exist within an innovation ecosystem. However they are not the “social” networks we talked about above, the ones you usually think of when you hear the word “networks”.

Rather, they are purpose designed networks built around cores of desired outcomes within the ecosystem, and not individuals. Examples include Collaborative Innovation Networks (CoINs) that are organized around specific and focused innovation areas and needs, and Collaborative Knowledge Networks (CKNs) designed to share ideas and knowledge about ideas and innovation(s) across the system. We would also expect see networks designed by the ecosystem Stewards geared to maintaining stability and regulation of change within the system.

Visit us next week for Part 2 when we explore just what this all means for your business and industry.

Creating a Culture of Innovationtag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8352f2b1f69e201b7c7651c96970b2015-03-24T16:59:40-07:002015-03-21T03:25:17-07:00Who hasn’t wanted a Culture of Innovation in their organization? After all, we are constantly inundated with articles, video interviews and books telling us we must have one; that we can’t be successful without it. Countless organizations have tried wholesale “change management” or “organizational transformations” to get one, which take a long time, require commitment from both management and the work force and in the majority of cases, fail. Scanning through The New Yorker over the New Year’s holiday, I came across an article by Joshua Rothman entitled The Meaning of “Culture” in his blog on books and ideas. It...Richard Marrs

Who hasn’t wanted a Culture of Innovation in their organization? After all, we are constantly inundated with articles, video interviews and books telling us we must have one; that we can’t be successful without it.

Countless organizations have tried wholesale “change management” or “organizational transformations” to get one, which take a long time, require commitment from both management and the work force and in the majority of cases, fail.

Scanning through The New Yorker over the New Year’s holiday, I came across an article by Joshua Rothman entitled The Meaning of “Culture” in his blog on books and ideas. It seems that Merriam-Webster announced last December that “culture” was their 2014 Word of the Year. The post immediately caused me to think about why we choose not to emphasize “culture” or “organization culture” when working with clients.

From his blog post:

“…The word “culture,” they explain, was simply the word that saw the biggest spike in look-ups on their Web site. Confusion about culture was just part of the culture this year. People were desperate to know what “culture” meant..."

The confusion of the very meaning of the word culture, how it evolves and what influences it, especially when it is applied to the organization is why we focus on the concept of establishing a Climate of Innovation within the organization when working with clients.

We see that when many use the term Innovation Culture, the examples used are really dealing with the Climate in the organization. When we review assessment tools for measuring innovation capacity, we see climate as a main focus, even when called culture.

When we have been a part of organizational changes or transformations that were effective, efforts were concentrated on changing the climate of the organization as the critical part of the change process; as the climate changed, the culture then began to change, evolving in a desired direction. While climate change did not happen overnight, efforts began to pay immediate dividends, and accelerated as the climate began to permeate the organization.

So what is it about climate that is so important, and why do we see organizational culture as a trailing indicator of climate? Let’s look at some key distinctions between the two:

Organizational Culture evolves as beliefs, customs and attitudes emerge, develop, are understood and accepted, and coalesces into a shared system – usually over a period of many years or even decades.

Organizational Climate on the other hand, refers to the prevailing influences or environmental conditions within the organization. As such, and unlike culture, a desired climate can be defined, e.g., a climate of innovation, and be immediately actionable through a focus on management actions and practices, expectations, recognition and rewards – 3M is a great example.

We think one of the main reasons many organizational change efforts fail to deliver is that these differences are not considered, and not enough (or any) emphasis is placed on the climate of the organization.

In practical terms then, the climate that management creates and fosters in the organization directly influences the basis of culture, and the culture you get is what your climate is set up to deliver – you get the culture you deserve through your management actions and practices, expectations, recognition and rewards.

So if an organization wants a culture of innovation (back to our example), it should ask some interesting and revealing questions, including:

What are the management actions and practices that foster and sustain innovation we see in successful innovating organizations?

How do we ensure we are aligned about what these actions and practices should be?

What actions and practices are we doing now that place barriers to or inhibit innovation that should be dropped or changed?

What expectations should we set that tells our workforce that we need to be innovative, that we expect them to contribute to generating ideas and that innovation is a key success factor for us?

How do we let our work force know which innovation areas we need to focus on, either in the marketplace or for internal improvements?

In what ways should we recognize our work force for their contributions to innovation, and how do we create innovation metrics that allow us to include innovation in our rewards programs?

Accepting that innovation is needed and desired, what do we need to change or add to our hiring process? To our training processes?

There are other questions that need to be asked depending on the current state of an organization, but these basic questions are good enough to get started on establishing a climate that fosters and sustains innovation. And we know enough about what successful innovators do to have good starting points for all of the questions – here’s a taste:

Successful innovators promote collaboration within the workforce, they provide space and time for teams to generate and develop innovative ideas; people know ideas are welcome and know how they are developed in a defined and open process. They support failure as a learning process, yet are able to stop work on ideas that clearly will not be successful in the marketplace or generate internal improvements.

There are no mixed signals about innovation. Climate is understood to be influenced directly by management and innovation is not an on again/off again flavor of the month – there is constant effort to create and sustain the climate of innovation over time.

There are any number of barriers to innovation, and successful innovators understand what actions and practices create these barriers and have changed their climate to prevent them from emerging – some barriers are all too familiar, and interestingly enough, are also barriers to a healthy organization, growth, employee retention/job satisfaction, hiring/training, and more:

Management actions not aligned with expectations

Too “loose” a definition of innovation

Uncertainty of innovation focus

Social systems not supportive of innovation

Innovation ideas not willing to be heard

No real way to move ideas from concept to product/adoption

Trust is missing in the organization

Successful innovators treat innovation as “something we do here” – it’s embedded in everyone’s day to day job, and is part of the commitment to innovation. Employees at all levels are encouraged to present innovative ideas, and their ideas are not swallowed up in the all too familiar “black hole”

The organization must know its innovation focus areas – creative constraints are necessary to provide innovation with intentionality – when the work force and staff know what the organization will do and what it won’t or cannot do, ideas are not “all over the map”, and are actually more creative within the focus areas

People like to be recognized for their contributions, nothing new here. Successful innovators have any number of ways to recognize ideas, innovation development and launch or adoption, from simple organizational awareness of individuals and teams up to a reward system based on innovation metrics and tied to the formal year end or quarterly review programs. If you want innovation, do not leave it out as a component to any recognition or rewards program!

Hire and train for the traits of creative and innovative individuals, remembering that everyone can be innovative – we do it all the time as individuals outside the workplace. Provide and facilitate the social opportunities for idea sharing, establish a set of innovation metrics, for individuals, teams and the company, and include an innovation/ideas component in the review process

So successful innovators hire and train for creativity and innovation, include an innovation component in quarterly and yearly reviews, align recognition and reward systems to support innovation matched to innovation metrics, create and facilitate social opportunities for idea sharing & transfer and focused idea generation, and perhaps most importantly, set and state clear expectations for good ideas and innovation. You get the idea.

All of these actions and practices are directly and immediately actionable within any organization that makes a commitment to innovation, and understands that innovation success begins with creating a climate that fosters and sustains innovation.

While we used innovation as our example, it’s no stretch to see that the broader culture of any organization can be influenced by the climate within the organization. Just ask the same questions and substitute any area of the organization for “innovation”. When you do, it's important to make sure that there are not actions and practices in one area that have a negative influence on another – those must be seen, understood and reconciled. But that’s for a future post.

Latitudes of Acceptance (Rejection, or Non-Committment)tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8352f2b1f69e201b7c732c316970b2015-01-12T12:39:44-08:002015-01-12T12:34:32-08:00Have you ever used or done something based on intuition, experience or what you think is just common sense, and then found out that someone had given that something a name, studied it, tested it, researched it - and you never knew until you were lucky and happened on an article about it or heard someone talking about it? Well, that recently happened to me too, as a result of my recent pursuit of readings in Social Psychology (Here is a really good starting textbook if you are interested). When we facilitated negotiations, established and led cross-functional project teams, designed...Richard Marrs

Have you ever used or done something based on intuition, experience or what you think is just common sense, and then found out that someone had given that something a name, studied it, tested it, researched it - and you never knew until you were lucky and happened on an article about it or heard someone talking about it?

Well, that recently happened to me too, as a result of my recent pursuit of readings in Social Psychology (Here is a really good starting textbook if you are interested).

When we facilitated negotiations, established and led cross-functional project teams, designed and led workshops on strategy, scenario planning, innovation and alliances, we always thought about the different current beliefs, values and attitudes of each individual in the room, in the teams, at the table and in the organization - and perhaps most importantly, as designers and facilitators we had to consider our own as well.

We knew we had to consider in our design and facilitation how those different beliefs, values and attitudes could be “suspended” or put aside in ways that enabled the negotiation to be successful, the team to function effectively and efficiently, an alliance created and launched adding value for all parties, or workshop participants ending the day(s) with work they could all accept and implement.

We didn’t have a name for it, but we knew we had to deal with it or all bets were off, especially when dealing with negotiations, scenario planning and strategic alliances!

And as I talked with my friend and collaborator Steve Barthover the past year, I realized there has to be deep implications here for Organizational Design.

Well, I have an email subscription to TED’s Edge Conversations and on August 22, 2014 I received a link to an Edge Conversation with Mathew D. Lieberman entitled “Latitudes of Acceptance” - and I finally had an understanding of the basis and name for the problem.

From the article, quoting Lieberman:

“I'll tell you about my new favorite idea, which like all new favorite ideas, is really an old idea. This one, from the 1960s, was used only in a couple of studies. It's called "latitude of acceptance". If I want to persuade you, what I need to do is pitch my arguments so that they're in the range of a bubble around your current belief; it's not too far from your current belief, but it's within this bubble. If your belief is that you're really, really anti-guns, let's say, and I want to move you a bit, if I come along and say, "here's the pro-gun position," you're actually going to move further away. Okay? It's outside the bubble of things that I can consider as reasonable.”

“We all have these latitudes around our beliefs, our values, our attitudes, which teams are ok to root for, and so on, and these bubbles move. They flex. When you're drunk, or when you've had a good meal, or when you're with people you care about versus strangers, these bubbles flex and move in different ways. “Getting two groups to work together is about trying to get them to a place where their bubbles overlap, not their ideas, not their beliefs, but the bubbles that surround their ideas. Once you do that, you don't try to get them to go to the other position, you try to get them to see there's some common ground that you don't share, but that you think would not be a crazy position to hold.”

And there it was - in two short paragraphs. I decided to dig deeper.

The original work and new theoretical framework was developed by Muzafer Sherif and was introduced in the 1961 Social Judgment volume (Sherif and Hovland) in the Yale series on attitudes and communications. And the theory did not just deal with acceptance, but also with latitude of rejection, and latitude of non-commitment – and made the concept even more encompassing and compelling, at least for my work.

The second theme of Sherif was ego-involvement - not from the Freudian context - but rather referring “…more generally to the “involvement of self or personal involvement…”

Read the complete conversation with Mathew Lieberman here and there is a link to the Edge video there as well - It’s is well worth your time!

Links follow to some selected works if you are interested in learning more. Start with the PDF download from the University of Chicago.

Innovation and the Small & Medium Size Enterprisetag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8352f2b1f69e201b8d0bb4a31970c2015-01-08T12:17:39-08:002015-01-10T10:27:40-08:00In 2014 I worked with Productivity Alberta and GO Productivity to design and develop an advanced program focused on the critical question “…why are so many SMEs unable to - or uninterested in - or fail at - establishing and sustaining an innovation program…? After all, SMEs play a critical role in both economic development and as innovators, as they make up about 90% of all firms worldwide (OECD). Perhaps most importantly, SMEs have some significant advantages over large firms due to their size:[1] They have strong relationships with both customers and suppliers that can enable them to act more...Richard Marrs

In 2014 I worked with Productivity Alberta and GO Productivity to design and develop an advanced program focused on the critical question “…why are so many SMEs unable to - or uninterested in - or fail at - establishing and sustaining an innovation program…?

After all, SMEs play a critical role in both economic development and as innovators, as they make up about 90% of all firms worldwide (OECD). Perhaps most importantly, SMEs have some significant advantages over large firms due to their size:[1]

They have strong relationships with both customers and suppliers that can enable them to act more quickly to changing business environments and market needs,

They have shorter lines of internal communication, and many have a strong entrepreneurial management style, and

Studies have shown that the technical capabilities of employees in SMEs are in many cases higher than those in large companies, allowing for faster and less expensive innovation.

However there are also studies that show that only a small number of SMEs use these size advantages for innovation, growth and increased competitiveness. The program addresses the many reasons and issues for SMEs that lead to this inaction – and our research shows that SMEs worldwide face many of the same roadblocks to innovation. Links follow:

The program is now available for SMEs (and not just in Canada!), and we think the combination of unique approach, assessment tool, workshop components, delivery and continued engagement gives GO Productivity’s clients their single best opportunity to establish and sustain an effective and dynamic innovation program.

You can read about the program in a paper (GFCC Paper Final) published by the Global Federation on Competitiveness Council (GFCC) in their 2014 Regional Innovation: Best Practices in Competitiveness Strategy program, presented at their 2014 2014 Global Innovation Summit and Annual Meeting of the GFCC in Banff, Alberta on December 11-13, 2014.

The paper identifies the many issues and problems facing SMEs and innovation, and how the program addresses them.

At Last: A Practical Guide to Knowledge Managementtag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8352f2b1f69e20120a887b28e970b2010-02-10T10:45:33-08:002010-02-10T10:45:03-08:00This book provides a road map to either start a KM program from scratch, or use well defined processes and tools to conduct a diagnostic on an existing program – fine tuning for our current times of uncertainty.Richard Marrs

Rarely does a book come along that cuts through theory and manifesto, synthesizing insights, research and applied learning into something that is practical, eminently useful, and indispensible: Judi Sandrock’s “The Art of Managing Knowledge” does just that.

Judi's book provides a road map to either start a KM program from scratch, or use well defined processes and tools to conduct a diagnostic on an existing program – fine tuning for our current times of uncertainty.

This is a must have book on your working shelf, to be used as a day to day guide, as well as a guide to how KM really should work, how to avoid traps and pitfalls, and as a practical and pragmatic “this is how you do that” from proven, successfulapplication.

Not yet available on Amazon (we understand the second printing will be), contact Judi herefor your copy.

Thriving in the Age of Complexity - With no answers, only choicestag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8352f2b1f69e20120a5b3ae13970c2009-09-09T11:07:25-07:002009-09-09T11:06:46-07:00You are hearing more and more that the current recession has bottomed out, that the economic crisis is easing as job losses slow and we are beginning to see confidence return to the marketplace. This is good news indeed as we turn from survival and begin to look forward.
Nevertheless, the global business environment is becoming more and more interconnected and complex.
The future will see new uncertainties, ambiguities and even more surprises. Our world is acting as a complex system, and what we are now experiencing is just a taste of what will undoubtedly come.Richard Marrs
<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 13pt; MARGIN: 6pt 0in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none"><em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: &#39;Georgia&#39;,&#39;serif&#39;; COLOR: #3f3f38; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-font-kerning: 8.0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: #000000">You are hearing more and more that the current recession has bottomed out, that the economic crisis is easing as job losses slow and we are beginning to see confidence return to the marketplace.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&#0160; </span>This is good news indeed as we turn from survival and begin to look forward.<o:p></o:p></span></span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 13pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 6pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none"><em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: &#39;Georgia&#39;,&#39;serif&#39;; COLOR: #3f3f38; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-font-kerning: 8.0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: #000000"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&#0160;</span>Nevertheless, the global business environment is becoming more and more interconnected and complex.</span></span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 13pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 6pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none"><em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: &#39;Georgia&#39;,&#39;serif&#39;; COLOR: #3f3f38; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-font-kerning: 8.0pt"></span></em><em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: &#39;Georgia&#39;,&#39;serif&#39;; COLOR: #3f3f38; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: &#39;Times New Roman&#39;; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-font-family: &#39;Times New Roman&#39;; mso-font-kerning: 8.0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: #000000">The future will see new uncertainties, ambiguities and even more surprises.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&#0160; </span>Our world is acting as a complex system, and what we are now experiencing is just a taste of what will undoubtedly come.</span></span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 13pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 6pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none"><em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: &#39;Georgia&#39;,&#39;serif&#39;; COLOR: #3f3f38; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: &#39;Times New Roman&#39;; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-font-family: &#39;Times New Roman&#39;; mso-font-kerning: 8.0pt"></span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 13pt; MARGIN: 6pt 0in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: &#39;Georgia&#39;,&#39;serif&#39;; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-font-kerning: 8.0pt">The immediate issue for all of us is that our old ways of looking at and seeing the world do not work anymore, blinding us to today’s world as it really is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&#0160; </span>And when we can’t see the world as it really is, we miss new opportunities, and we are blindsided by unforeseen threats while uncertainty and continual surprise paralyze us into inaction.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 13pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 6pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: &#39;Georgia&#39;,&#39;serif&#39;; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-font-kerning: 8.0pt">Right now, as most of you start your 2010 planning and budgeting cycle (which may be harder than ever) you have to ask yourselves two questions:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 13pt; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 6pt 0.25in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: &#39;Georgia&#39;,&#39;serif&#39;; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-font-kerning: 8.0pt"><span style="mso-list: Ignore">1.<span style="FONT: 7pt &#39;Times New Roman&#39;"> &#0160;&#0160; </span></span></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: &#39;Georgia&#39;,&#39;serif&#39;; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-font-kerning: 8.0pt">“In this complex world, how can an organization think about such variability and uncertainty, and set a course forward?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 13pt; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 6pt 0.25in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: &#39;Georgia&#39;,&#39;serif&#39;; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-font-kerning: 8.0pt"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&#0160;</span>And once we are able to do this, <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 13pt; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 6pt 0.25in; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: &#39;Georgia&#39;,&#39;serif&#39;; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-font-kerning: 8.0pt"><span style="mso-list: Ignore">2.<span style="FONT: 7pt &#39;Times New Roman&#39;"> &#0160;&#0160; </span></span></span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: &#39;Georgia&#39;,&#39;serif&#39;; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-font-kerning: 8.0pt">“How do we transform our organization to be able to act<em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"> with intention</em>, taking advantages of new opportunities as they emerge and create a lasting competitive advantage?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 13pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 6pt; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; mso-pagination: none"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: &#39;Georgia&#39;,&#39;serif&#39;; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-font-kerning: 8.0pt">We have been thinking long and hard about these critical questions. In our September newsletter we present</span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: &#39;Georgia&#39;,&#39;serif&#39;; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: &#39;Times New Roman&#39;; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-font-family: &#39;Times New Roman&#39;; mso-font-kerning: 8.0pt"> some of the concepts we have explored, what we have learned, and how we are working with our clients on this new&#0160;challenge.&#0160; <a href="http://altamontcg.com/letters.aspx" target="_blank" title="Newsletters at Altamont CG">Go here</a> to download and read the complete newsletter.</span></p></div>
Climate Change, Global Warming, et al: What’s missing in the public debate?tag:typepad.com,2003:post-671229432009-06-29T12:57:32-07:002009-06-29T15:43:29-07:00As Congress considers the "American Clean Energy and Security Act" this week (the house has narrowly passed their version 219-212 as of this writing), you would think that by now there would be a clear and general consensus on the issue in the USA - its challenges, implications for our future well-being (survival?) and focused actions. And by now, you would think that Climate Change (or Global Warming if you prefer) would be top of mind in the country as.
Well, at least from what I see, there is no consensus, and the issue ranks dead last in the minds of voters. That’s what happens when an issue has not been made personal and timely.
I suddenly realized last week that three things are clouding the ability of people to come to grips with the issue:
1. The issue is huge - so big that most people can’t get their arms around it, much less understand it
2. The issue is still abstract - understanding and dealing with abstract concepts is something people don’t want to do and is very difficult to do when they to
3. The issue is simply not personal yet – and this might just be the biggest reason of allRichard Marrs
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; MARGIN: 6pt 0in"><span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">As Congress considers the </span><span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iHKpYb_MBsbIRU3Ce6mrI-0G5eEA"><font color="#800080">&quot;American<strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"> </strong>Clean Energy<strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"> </strong>and Security Act&quot;</font></a> </span><span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">this week (the house has <em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">narrowly</em> passed their version 219-212 as of this writing), you would think that by now there would be a clear and general consensus on the issue in the USA - its challenges, implications for our future well-being (survival?) and focused actions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&#0160; </span>And by now, you would think that Climate Change (or Global Warming if you prefer) would be top of mind in this country.<o:p></o:p></span>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; MARGIN: 6pt 0in"><span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Well, at least from what I see, there is no consensus, and the issue ranks dead last in the minds of voters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&#0160; </span><em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">That’s what happens when an issue has not been made personal and timely.<o:p></o:p></em></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; MARGIN: 6pt 0in"><span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">When I talk to friends about climate change (global warming or any other name you choose), the conversation usually comes around to “How will it affect me”?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&#0160; </span>For those who are still on the fence about it, the question is always preceded by “If it is real…”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; MARGIN: 6pt 0in"><span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">And when I ask them (on either side of the issue) how <em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">they think</em> it will affect them, they simply can’t describe that future for themselves, and don’t even try for their children or grandchildren.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; MARGIN: 6pt 0in"><span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">So I have been thinking about some things:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<li class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; MARGIN: 6pt 0in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in"><span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">What’s keeping so many people on the fence about the issue?<o:p></o:p></span>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; MARGIN: 6pt 0in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in"><span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">What’s causing so many people not to feel an imperative for immediate action?<o:p></o:p></span>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; MARGIN: 6pt 0in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in"><span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">What’s preventing people from understanding the issue?<o:p></o:p></span> </li>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; MARGIN: 6pt 0in"><span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">I suddenly realized last week that three things are clouding the ability of people to come to grips with the issue:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<ol style="MARGIN-TOP: 0in" type="1">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; MARGIN: 6pt 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in"><span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">The issue is huge - so big that most people can’t get their arms around it, much less understand it<o:p></o:p></span>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; MARGIN: 6pt 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in"><span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">The issue is still abstract - understanding and dealing with abstract concepts is something people don’t want to do and is very difficult to do when they do<o:p></o:p></span>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; MARGIN: 6pt 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in"><em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">The issue is simply not personal yet</span></em><span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; FONT-SIZE: 11pt"> – and this might just be the biggest reason of all<o:p></o:p></span> </li>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; MARGIN: 6pt 0in"><span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">And the reason it’s not personal yet?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&#0160; </span><em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">There is no story or narrative</em> about it that provides a pattern or model (using characters we can identify with) to make it personal.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; MARGIN: 6pt 0in"><span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">I came to this point after going back and looking at books, magazine articles, presentations, movies, TV specials, etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&#0160; </span>There is an abundance of great graphics, tons of tables and figures, maps with colors, great slide presentations (e.g., Al Gore’s), apocalyptic movies with very questionable premises (<em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">The Day After</em>, et al) and TV shows with pictures of crashing seas and calving icebergs, not to mention the lonely polar bears on the little ice floes.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; MARGIN: 6pt 0in"><em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">But there is no story, no narrative about people like you or me and billions others.<o:p></o:p></span></em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; MARGIN: 6pt 0in"><span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">And by story and narrative, I mean in the most basic sense – characters, developed over time, showing how something affects them, their children, grandchildren, and their world over time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&#0160; </span>And time is a big part of the abstraction here.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; MARGIN: 6pt 0in"><span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Global warming by all accounts will happen gradually, over decades (not in an apocalyptic way as shown in <em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">The Day After</em>).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&#0160; </span>For us to understand something that unfolds over a 25-50-100 year time span and how it will affect us, we need to see it unfold.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&#0160; </span>And to see it unfold and make it real, we have to see it unfold and see it affect people over that time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&#0160; </span>People like you and me (whoever you are, wherever you are).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; MARGIN: 6pt 0in"><span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Can we really expect people to take such an abstract concept as global warming (or climate change) and be able to create a future in their minds where they can see themselves, their children and grandchildren living the changes?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&#0160; </span>I don’t know about you, but I think it’s hard for most people to take a still abstract concept, that so far is presented with charts and graphs, tons of data (used by both sides to make opposite cases for and against) tables and numbers, apocalyptic movies and TV talk shows - <span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&#0160;</span>and then be able from all of that to create a future vision they can see themselves in, much less their children and grandchildren.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; MARGIN: 6pt 0in"><span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">And when you add in the debate from both extreme sides, well, I am afraid people are turning off and tuning out the debate (right here I have to say that right now it’s not a real debate, more of a shouting match – and please note I am not coming down on whether it should even be a debate).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; MARGIN: 6pt 0in"><span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">The idea of the issue and the missings in the debate were brought home in the last couple of weeks through four events:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<li class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; MARGIN: 6pt 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in"><span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">A 2009 <a href="http://people-press.org/report/485/economy-top-policy-priority"><font color="#800080">Pew Research Center poll</font></a> showing that global warming is 20<sup>th </sup>(dead last) on issues and concerns of voters<o:p></o:p></span>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; MARGIN: 6pt 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in"><span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">An article in the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/02/us/politics/02enviro.html?_r=1"><font color="#800080">New York Times on Saturday, May 2<sup>nd</sup><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&#0160; </span>by John M. Broder</font></a> on the attempt by advocate groups to use new terms to make the case for “global warming” (seems that term turns people off through the images it evokes in people’s minds – “…shaggy headed liberals, economic sacrifice and complex scientific disputes…”).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&#0160; </span>He also notes the same Pew poll with links<o:p></o:p></span>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; MARGIN: 6pt 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in"><span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Re-reading <em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><a href="http://www.truby.com/learn_book.html"><font color="#800080">The Anatomy of Story</font></a></em>, by John Truby<o:p></o:p></span>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; MARGIN: 6pt 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in"><span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Talking with <a href="http://www.artofquantumplanning.com/favicon.ico"><font color="#800080">Gerald Harris</font></a>, an old friend from GBN (Global Business Network), about scenarios and narratives<o:p></o:p></span> </li>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; MARGIN: 6pt 0in"><span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Suffice it to say, these four seemingly separate events came together for me and turned into the idea of the missing personal story of climate change for our children, our grandchildren and us.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; MARGIN: 6pt 0in"><span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">The more I thought about this idea I wondered why no one had pushed this idea (perhaps they have, but I have no heard it).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&#0160; </span>And the more I have come to think that more books and articles (and cool slide shows and video with no people feeling, living with and dealing with the changes) will simply not get the job done: too restricted readership and market (readers, price, language, etc.).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; MARGIN: 6pt 0in"><span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">But what can do it is film and TV, given the right approach, script and premise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&#0160; </span>And film would be the single best because of the wider distribution, although TV could show more stories over time, in short segments – so perhaps a combined effort.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&#0160; </span>Either or both have tremendous capacity for reaching across the globe (and as we have seen language is not a barrier given subtitles and dubbing) and it could be done fast if it is considered important enough.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; MARGIN: 6pt 0in"><span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">So I want to see the story, of different people across the globe, as they grow and age, begin to see and feel the changes, make decisions (bad or good), see their actions and results of decisions and actions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&#0160; </span>I want to see how it affects their children, how they feel, act and deal with the legacy we leave them, and how they hand their legacy to their children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&#0160; </span>And I want to see what happens not only in the US, but also in Europe, Asia, Africa, South America – I want to see the global story.<o:p></o:p></span>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; MARGIN: 6pt 0in"><span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">People watching this film or TV series or both will see themselves in these characters with the right script (story/narrative) – and in doing so they will have a model, a scenario if you will that will seem not only plausible but also probable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&#0160; </span>They’ll see the debate and argument in a new light (from themselves), not as an abstract idea.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&#0160; </span>They’ll be able to live the changes, the decisions, the actions and the results, for good or ill.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; MARGIN: 6pt 0in"><span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">And I bet consensus and action will not be far behind.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; MARGIN: 6pt 0in"><span style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">So this is the challenge for the film and TV industry – will they step up, or will they sit this one out, and miss a golden opportunity that could have far and future implications for us all?</span></p>
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Personal Work Space: to Order, or not to Order?tag:typepad.com,2003:post-670738912009-05-20T15:09:09-07:002009-05-20T15:08:58-07:00Since I posted "To Study, Perchance to Dream?" on April 29th, I have received a number of email and phone comments - enough to know I am not the only one thinking about the issue of personal work space, and how to deal with it, especially in the home. I came across this article, "An Orderly Office? That's Personal" by Sara Rimer in the New York Times (and yes, it was in one of those "stacks" in a very neat blue file folder, along with some others I had forgotten about!). A well narrated story of one person's struggle, considerations,...Richard Marrs

Since I posted "To Study, Perchance to Dream?" on April 29th, I have received a number of email and phone comments - enough to know I am not the only one thinking about the issue of personal work space, and how to deal with it, especially in the home.

I came across this article, "An Orderly Office? That's Personal" by Sara Rimer in the New York Times (and yes, it was in one of those "stacks" in a very neat blue file folder, along with some others I had forgotten about!). A well narrated story of one person's struggle, considerations, discoveries and solution. It rang true for me, and I bet it will for most of you all too. Enjoy!

To Study, Perchance to Dream?tag:typepad.com,2003:post-661280732009-04-29T11:40:20-07:002009-04-29T11:39:53-07:00I don't know about you, but without realizing it I have set up to very distinct places at home to do two (well, maybe three) distinct work processes; 1. Output and 2. Input and synthesis. I have come to realize I can;t use a space set up for one to do the other - each process requires a different organization, arrangement, tools, and yes, ambiance.Richard Marrs
<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">I was reading in my den a few nights ago and realized I had stacks of papers, articles, books and magazines lying in a semi-circle around my chair.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&#0160; </span>Looking around, I noticed that I had two “current reading” folders of things printed off the Web (I still like to read off paper) brought down from my upstairs office.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">And these weren’t just the typical current reading one usually has lying around the favorite chair – some of them were more than three months old.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&#0160; </span>I realized this when my wife hinted rather subtly that perhaps it was time to shorten the stacks, or better yet, move them to the upstairs office – something about dusting and vacuuming being hindered by the piles (now no longer “stacks”).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">I thought I should go upstairs and make room before I started the heavy lifting (yep, there was that much).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&#0160; </span>To my surprise, I had no reading of any kind on my desk, only client, project and other files I was working on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&#0160; </span>Even I could see that something’s going on here I hadn’t thought about before.</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">The only office “stack” was a set of files ready to go back into the filing cabinet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&#0160; </span>I didn’t think much more about this until I was talking to my friend and collaborative partner <a href="http://www.reflectedknowledge.com/" target="_blank">Steve Barth</a> one day while he was in the middle of renovating his office, and the idea of “study” vs. “office” hit me. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">When I mentioned to Steve I thought it a good idea to have both, Steve asked me to talk more about it, and I riffed on about it for a while. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&#0160;</span>Stave has promised me that if I post these basic thoughts, he has some things to say over on <a href="http://reflexions.typepad.com/reflexions/" target="_blank">Reflexions </a>about this, and some links to some good articles he has found.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&#0160; </span>I think he’ll have some insights about personal knowledge management, cognition and virtual&#0160;spaces&#0160;related to this too, so here we go…<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">I don’t know about you, but without realizing it I have created two very distinct places to do two (well, maybe three) distinct processes: 1. Output and 2. Input and synthesis. (I really don’t like using terms like Output and Input when talking about human processes, but I think it gets the point across better here.)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">I’ve come to realize that I can’t use the same space for all three as each require a different organization, arrangement, tools and yes, ambiance.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">The office is set up for business output and deliverables, whether by phone, email, documents like reports and letters, etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&#0160; </span><em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">It’s where things get done.</em><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&#0160; </span>The “study” (ok, den) is for input (reading and some telephone conversations) and synthesis (note taking, outlining, diagramming, first drafts and just good old thinking).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&#0160; </span><em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">It’s where I make sense about things and create new things.</em><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">The study doesn’t have a computer, I don’t carry my laptop around so no email or instant messages (no smart cell phone for me yet).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&#0160; </span>I also noticed the chair in the office is not nearly as comfortable as the one in the study/den.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Thinking back to my time in large companies, I remember that on many occasions I saw colleagues in conference and meeting rooms reading, writing in long hand or just sitting there with a cup of coffee thinking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&#0160; </span>Only those with offices large enough to have a separate sitting area didn’t do this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&#0160; </span>I noticed they almost always went over to that area when they wanted to read and think, even if just doodling on a notepad – but even they used the other rooms too.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">I also noticed they sought each other out when they wanted to talk over something new, or test some idea – they never used email or text for that, it was always face to face – and they always gathered in a space other than their office to do it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">When we went back to the desk, it was all about getting something done. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&#0160;</span>In the other places, we wanted to make sense of things, to understand them, to develop our ideas and options – only then did we go back to the “office” and do something.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">There was something about getting “out of the office” that puts our minds in a different gear, allowing us to process differently.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&#0160; </span>I think the processes we use in each space or different too.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">We have known for a long time just how space and the environment it contains facilitates knowledge creation and other human processes, yet organizations continue to put people in 6x6 cubicles and expect them to be productive as knowledge workers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&#0160; </span>But for those of us who have the opportunity, there is no reason to set our own workspaces up that way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&#0160; </span>Note I said “work spaces” and not “work places” – two different concepts.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">How have you created your spaces at home or at the “workplace” – did you do the same thing I did?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&#0160; </span>Have you thought about it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&#0160; </span>Have you been able to do both in a single space?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">While we’re at it, <em>virtual </em>workspaces should work the same way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&#0160; </span>If you look at the way you have organized your computer, the applications you use and the way the files are organized, I’ll bet you have separated the “study” from the “office”.&#0160; And I bet your computer or virtual workspace looks a lot like your physical workspace.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">So, I think I’ll set up a room down the hall just as a library/study room (I can always put a sofa-couch in there so I don’t lose a guest room - the grandkids won’t mind).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Then I can get away from the office when I need time to absorb, think, make sense of things and generate new ideas and projects.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&#0160; </span>Then I’ll go over to the office and do something about them...</span></p></o:p></div>